Women's and Gender Studies Minor

The Women's and Gender Studies Program brings together courses and faculty from several colleges of the university to provide an interdisciplinary experience leading to a minor in Women's and Gender Studies. As an area of scholarship, Women's and Gender Studies focuses on the contributions, perspectives, and experiences of women in all areas of human endeavor, including the status, portrayal, or achievements of women in areas such as art, history, literature, science, business, engineering, and medicine. It also promotes greater understanding of gender as a fundamental category of meaning, examining the pervasive and often unacknowledged ways that gender changes our social institutions, individual knowledge, and interpersonal relationships.

SLO 4: Analyze how gender intersects with other categories of identity.

SLO 5: Explain how gender constructions affect individual lives.

A minor in Women's and Gender Studies consists of 21 semester hours, including one required course (WGS 200), five core courses, and one elective. Students must also complete a portfolio and portfolio conference during their final semester at UAH. Core courses must include at least 6 hours of humanities and 6 hours of social and natural sciences. Note that 12 of the 21 semester hours must be at the 300-level or higher. A student interested in minoring in Women's and Gender Studies should contact the director of the program for advising.

**No more than two of the courses applied to the minor can be from the student's major field of study. One course may count towards both the major and the minor. No more than 6 hours can be taken in a single subject area. WGS 340 Special Topics or WGS 499 Independent Study may count as core courses in various subject areas if these courses carry 3 hours credit.

For more information about Women's and Gender Studies at UAH, call the Women's and Gender Studies Program office at (256) 824-6190, or e-mail Dr. Molly Johnson, Director of Women's and Gender Studies, at molly.johnson@uah.edu.

WGS200 - Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies

Usual Instructors: Dr. Molly W. Johnson

Focusing on gender as a fundamental category of meaning, the course will introduce methods and approaches to Women's and Gender Studies in a variety of disciplines, examining the pervasive and often unacknowledged ways that gender changes our social institutions, individual knowledge, and interpersonal relationships. The course includes guest lectures by many of the faculty teaching courses in the Women's and Gender Studies minor. This is one of the required courses in the Women's and Gender Studies minor and counts in the General Education Requirements (GER) for students in the colleges of Engineering, Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, Nursing, and Science.

Core Course in Women's and Gender Studies

Core courses have women and/or gender at the center of inquiry, in terms of the subject matter or an approach that develops critical thinking relevant to the understanding of Women’s and Gender Studies issues.

A Women's and Gender Studies minor requires 5 courses from the following (15 hrs - at least 6 hours in each category).

Special Topics may be included in this area. Examples include EH 440 ST: American Drama; HY 399 ST: Food in World History; PHL 403: Advanced Moral Philosophy: Care Ethics; PSC 440 Regional Studies: African Politics. See an advisor for a current list.

For a description of each course, see Courses in Women's and Gender Studies.